That thou art blamed shall not be thy defect,
For slander's mark was ever yet the fair;
read more

That thou art blamed shall not be thy defect,
For slander's mark was ever yet the fair;
The ornament of beauty is suspect,
A crow that flies in heaven's sweetest air.
So thou be good, slander doth but approve
Thy worth the greater, being wooed of time;
For canker vice the sweetest buds doth love,
And thou present'st a pure unstained prime.

I hate the man who builds his name
On ruins of another's fame.

I hate the man who builds his name
On ruins of another's fame.

Slander is the revenge of a coward, and dissimulation his defense

Slander is the revenge of a coward, and dissimulation his defense

If I can do it
By aught that I can speak in his dispraise,
She shall not read more

If I can do it
By aught that I can speak in his dispraise,
She shall not long continue love to him.

Have patience awhile; slanders are not long-lived. Truth is the child of time; ere long she shall appear to vindicate read more

Have patience awhile; slanders are not long-lived. Truth is the child of time; ere long she shall appear to vindicate thee.

A slander is like a hornet; if you can't kill it dead the first time, better not strike at it.

A slander is like a hornet; if you can't kill it dead the first time, better not strike at it.

Never throw mud. You may miss your mark, but you will have dirty hands.

Never throw mud. You may miss your mark, but you will have dirty hands.

For enemies carry about slander not in the form in which it took
its rise. . . . The read more

For enemies carry about slander not in the form in which it took
its rise. . . . The scandal of men is everlasting; even then does
it survive when you would suppose it to be dead.

Your tittle-tattlers, and those who listen to slander, by my good
will should all be hanged--the former by their read more

Your tittle-tattlers, and those who listen to slander, by my good
will should all be hanged--the former by their tongues, the
latter by the ears.
[Lat., Homines qui gestant, quique auscultant crimina,
Si meo arbitratu liceat, omnes pendeant,
Gestores linguis, auditores auribus.]